LC9 Stainless Steel Guide Rod Testing & Review!

[GKC]

If anyone believes that a guide rod like this does anything other than make the gun a little heavier in the front, and potentially void the Ruger warranty, I have some really nice swampland and a few bridges in Brooklyn for sale ....

These types of 'improvements' remind me of that turbinator thing you put in your car to create a 'vortex' airflow. Does nothing but relieve buyers of their money. Use that money and buy more ammo. If the gun performed better with a rod like this ... Ruger would have designed it that way. They know FAR more about their guns than aftermarket companies trying to sell what looks like a $1 piece of metal for 25 or 30 times that much. The old saying 'If it aint broke ... don't fix it' comes to mind.

REV

A lot of polymer firearms are now equipped with polymer guide rods...and even some metal firearms are as well. I would hope that the reason was not just taking the cheap way out.

A lot of people put aftermarket parts on things, not just firearms...some make an improvement, some just make the maker rich. :lol:

If this does "void the warranty" (although Ruger doesn't have a warranty) or make it so that Ruger won't service the firearm, it's not something I would be interested in. I think this is a wait and see item for now.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

CZ's have plastic rods. They make an excellent production class pistol called the Shadow, they could have put any guide rod of any material in it if they wanted to. They could have added the slightly additional cost to the gun and it would still sell just as well. The guide rod is plastic, yes plastic and that gun is as accurate as any other gun made in it's class and probably more so.

I know that Sig went to plastic rods for awhile but their denser customers were appalled and they switched back to steel rods. That's too bad because they went to plastic because it made the pistols slightly more reliable in feeding, I'm not kidding.

I don't mind someone thinking about some gun bling if that's what they want but to tell me and others that plastic rods break and wear out and we need to switch to metal or we don't know anything.... I have a pistol with 60,000 rounds through it, same damn plastic rod in it that came with it. When's it spose to break, huh?

 

[Deepwoods]

Your right Stimo3, I should have not mentioned your post without stating my qualifications (i.e.: to young to purchase a handgun. ect.):

I'm 65 years old.
I have and do own several firearms, many of them handguns.
I grew up on a farm where it was "fix it yourself, or else".
I spent 4 yrs handling firearms in the USMC (VN, 2 PH's).
I attended Glen Oaks Comm College.
I retired after 31 years as a LEO, much of that as a range officer, training officer, and Department Armorer.

I am not criticizing the SS guide rod (but will stick with what Ruger made for it). I was critizing your blatant use of this web site for your advocacy, whether the seller is a friend or employer.

 

[revhigh]

For awhile there was all the rage about one piece guide rods in 1911's. Everybody ran out and bought them. They bought them in stainless, tungsten, magnesium, and all kinds of other exotic metals that were said to 'reduce recoil', 'cause better lockup', 'make the springs last longer', 'increase accuracy' ... blah blah blah .....

OK ... so let me get this straight ... I should buy a one piece guide rod that makes it so I can't take the gun apart without special tools, that costs $50-75, in order to save money on $9 springs that I replace every 10,000 rounds ? OK then.

I must confess I have one on my Springfield 1911 ... it was given to me with a bunch of other parts that I bought .... and it doesn't do a damn thing other than make the gun a little more nose heavy. Now if you're going to tell me that the gun being a little more nose heavy 'reduces recoil' or some other snake oil pitch ... then we really don't have anything more to talk about.

Bottom line ... they do NOTHING for the performance of the gun, and they can 'potentially' cause a warranty service declination if the failure is related to the guide rod in any way.

So ... is it worth it to actually spend more money on a part for a gun that in all likelyhood does NOTHING, and in worst case can cause warranty work to be declined ?? Duh .....

REV

 

[revhigh]

I'm guessing you're not of age to buy a firearm, or at least a handgun yet with your knowledge as this IS "firearm focused," a guide rod is part of a firearm is it not? :lol: Come back in a couple years after you've finished schooling son.

WOW !! You kinda blew what little credibility this thread had with the comments above ....

REV

 

[2ndamd]

If anyone believes that a guide rod like this does anything other than make the gun a little heavier in the front, and potentially void the Ruger warranty, I have some really nice swampland and a few bridges in Brooklyn for sale ....

These types of 'improvements' remind me of that turbinator thing you put in your car to create a 'vortex' airflow. Does nothing but relieve buyers of their money. Use that money and buy more ammo. If the gun performed better with a rod like this ... Ruger would have designed it that way. They know FAR more about their guns than aftermarket companies trying to sell what looks like a $1 piece of metal for 25 or 30 times that much. The old saying 'If it aint broke ... don't fix it' comes to mind.

REV

Rev, I like you alot. I see your posts here for years and on other boards (GT). But who cares if someone wants to buy a SS guide rod? I see pimped out Glocks over at GT too and think "why?".

Now, you know better than I do that Ruger has no written warranty to void. You know this to be true...correct?

 

[Stimo3]

Moderator - Is this forum open to anyone that wants to advertise or just a selected few? I presume we will try to keep it firearm focused.

I'm not advertising as there was a purchase made, so im doing a "Test & Review"," and yes if you buy a product and review it that's perfectly legal. I told you guys he gave me a guide rod to test, but i had to buy the stock guide rod + other parts to equal 10 dollars and pay for shipping, etc. in order to test it so i did pay for it.
If it was completely given to me for free and i was affiliated with the company benefiting in a way that would be advertising, but you have to be "benefiting" in some way in order for it to be "advertising." You obviously never read the directions or took a simple business 101 class have you? I'm guessing you're not of age to buy a firearm, or at least a handgun yet with your knowledge as this IS "firearm focused," a guide rod is part of a firearm is it not? :lol: Come back in a couple years after you've finished schooling son. There's plenty of other people that have done test and reviews on other products here, otherwise you'll have to cut out every single ammunition discussion, etc because it's "advertising" lol. By your definition, any talk about anything is advertising :lol:

I was reading your information with interest, until this post. I think you could have addressed any concern factually without the added sarcasm.

Im sorry you feel tat way but im sick of people accusing me of being "BIASED" and advertising when im tsting out a product, spending my time and money on ammunition to test the product and review it for the people ofthe forum so they have more aftermarket options available and people keep saying im "advertising." Sorry but i don't have any stake in Guiderod.com, i thought i made that clear when i posted that i was testing for Steve Bedair, one of the biggest guide rod manufacturers out there and i figured that would prove i in no way benefit from this product.

After all that another some is going to post a post to the moderators saying im advertising? Again im sorry you feel that way but im not going to sit here and be accused of advertising when i spent ~$200 in just ammunition testing this thing for the forum, so if you take offense to my response i have no problem with you not reading anymore of my thread. Thank you.

 

[Stimo3]

Your right Stimo3, I should have not mentioned your post without stating my qualifications (i.e.: to young to purchase a handgun. ect.):

I'm 65 years old.
I have and do own several firearms, many of them handguns.
I grew up on a farm where it was "fix it yourself, or else".
I spent 4 yrs handling firearms in the USMC (VN, 2 PH's).
I attended Glen Oaks Comm College.
I retired after 31 years as a LEO, much of that as a range officer, training officer, and Department Armorer.

I am not criticizing the SS guide rod (but will stick with what Ruger made for it). I was critizing your blatant use of this web site for your advocacy, whether the seller is a friend or employer.

Not a friend, employer, or anything. Like i said at the beginning im doing a TEST AND REVIEW of a SS guide rod for the LC9. I purchased the parts for it to be made and had it sent here, and i paid for those ~900 rounds that went through it to test it. So i take offense when some clls it "advertising," when i'm spending my own time and money to do this for the better of the community and get ridiculed for it. Sorry but that offends me.

 

[Stimo3]

If anyone believes that a guide rod like this does anything other than make the gun a little heavier in the front, and potentially void the Ruger warranty, I have some really nice swampland and a few bridges in Brooklyn for sale ....

These types of 'improvements' remind me of that turbinator thing you put in your car to create a 'vortex' airflow. Does nothing but relieve buyers of their money. Use that money and buy more ammo. If the gun performed better with a rod like this ... Ruger would have designed it that way. They know FAR more about their guns than aftermarket companies trying to sell what looks like a $1 piece of metal for 25 or 30 times that much. The old saying 'If it aint broke ... don't fix it' comes to mind.

REV

Making the gun heavier in the front DOES help reduce recoil, and that's a fact. Thanks I'm guessing that's why professional shooters use them when they're allowed to.

Ruger could have designed it with a SS guide rod you're right, as well as a lot of other things, but they dont want the damn thing to cost 1000, so in certain places where they can, like the guide rod, they cheap out on to make it more affordable. Many companies use plastic ones, but mine wore out after ~600 rounds and had bad peening. IMO a lot of the times companies don't make SS/metal guide rods now because they don;t HAVE to be, it's a money saver to use plastic, not to mention they do wear out slowly so you're bound to have to replace it sooner or later unless you let it sit most of the time and dont fire it once a week, so they're making more money off you buying extra rods too. It's called making money and a business.

If they put the absolute best of everything they could think of in a small gun like that it would cost well over 1k, that's not a very good idea when most people that are looking to buy this gun are looking at it for CCW/backup gun, and it's going to be used and abused. They don't want a 1k dollar backup/CCW gun getting all scratched up from the holster and the bluing rubbing off, etc from wear/tear. They want an affordable, reliable, accurate gun that's going to go bang everytime for a good price, and in order to do that they cheap out on things.

In this situation now i have a guide rod that isnt going to wear out or break and HAS improved my accuracy in double taps most likely because of the extra weight in the front, but im sure from more practice too.. Believe what you want to believe, don't buy one i could honestly care less, again i was testing this part out for the better of the community, just like im going to do a test and review on a theisholsters.com holster i just bought last week. The people that want them and are going to buy them are going to buy them, people like you that are adamant that "stock is best." well, you can stick with your stock gun, either way it doesnt matter to me. Someone says im advertising though after all the money and time i've spent to try and better the community and make more parts available offends me.

 

[Stimo3]

CZ's have plastic rods. They make an excellent production class pistol called the Shadow, they could have put any guide rod of any material in it if they wanted to. They could have added the slightly additional cost to the gun and it would still sell just as well. The guide rod is plastic, yes plastic and that gun is as accurate as any other gun made in it's class and probably more so.

I know that Sig went to plastic rods for awhile but their denser customers were appalled and they switched back to steel rods. That's too bad because they went to plastic because it made the pistols slightly more reliable in feeding, I'm not kidding.

I don't mind someone thinking about some gun bling if that's what they want but to tell me and others that plastic rods break and wear out and we need to switch to metal or we don't know anything.... I have a pistol with 60,000 rounds through it, same damn plastic rod in it that came with it. When's it spose to break, huh?

Well a manufacturer has to start cutting out cost of parts at some point, and now that plastic rods WORK, that's a major part that they can save money on when making 10's of thousands of guns. I'd like to see proof that a plastic guide rod made the Sig feed "more reliably," and i don't count forum talk as "proof."

I know my guide rod was worn out after 600 rounds, and others have had even worse experiences than me, for instance the excessive guide rod wear thread. That's not going to happen to a SS guide rod. It's functioned great in my gun and has made my groupings tighter at distance when rapid firing/double taps. Th peening is much more mild and isn't gettng any worse like the stock one was. Believe it, don't believe it, that's up to you.

So you're saying you have a pistol with a counted 60k rounds? sorry i find that hard to believe, especially on a plastic guide rod. If you've had it long enough to fire 60k rounds through it, it's old enough to where the plastic guide rod would have started cracking just from weathering, let alone 60k rounds of force bending it everytime.. Sorry but i call BS on that one.

BTW you say gun manufactureers can add a part in for a "slight cost," but when you're talking about 10's of thousands of guns, a couple dollar part turns into 1 million dollars once said and done, just to put that "metal guide rod in" instead of a plastic one. Ever think about it that way? Why put in a metal guide rod when they can save 1 million dollars putting in a plastic one, have it function properly, and be able to sell extra plastic guide rods to the ones that wear out and make MORE money? This gun wasn;t made with the "highest quality parts" in mind, it's a CCW gun that is reliable and works, that's what it was designed for.


Hopefully one of the people that ends up getting one does a test and review on it too so people can see that i'm not twisting the truth/giving a false review, but believe what you want until then.

 

[revhigh]

If anyone believes that a guide rod like this does anything other than make the gun a little heavier in the front, and potentially void the Ruger warranty, I have some really nice swampland and a few bridges in Brooklyn for sale ....

These types of 'improvements' remind me of that turbinator thing you put in your car to create a 'vortex' airflow. Does nothing but relieve buyers of their money. Use that money and buy more ammo. If the gun performed better with a rod like this ... Ruger would have designed it that way. They know FAR more about their guns than aftermarket companies trying to sell what looks like a $1 piece of metal for 25 or 30 times that much. The old saying 'If it aint broke ... don't fix it' comes to mind.

REV

Rev, I like you alot. I see your posts here for years and on other boards (GT). But who cares if someone wants to buy a SS guide rod? I see pimped out Glocks over at GT too and think "why?".

Now, you know better than I do that Ruger has no written warranty to void. You know this to be true...correct?

That's true 2A, technically, but we all really know that Ruger has one of the best 'unwritten' warranties in the gun industry. As long as there isn't signs of abuse, Ruger will generally fix almost anything at almost any time. Now if you send in a gun to be repaired with damage that couldn't have been caused by the stock Ruger parts, all bets could easily be off. Ruger would certainly know that certain kinds of damage (if indeed any damage occurred at all) COULDN'T be caused by a plastic guide rod. In that case they would be well within their rights to refuse service to that weapon.

Bottom line is this ... if you (and I don't mean YOU 2A ) want to spend money on totally non-functional add-ons or bling that does nothing ... go right ahead .... Me ?? I don't do that. Just don't try to imply that a different but shiny part does a damn thing differently that the stock Ruger part, because it doesn't.

REV[/i]

 

[revhigh]

I know my guide rod was worn out after 600 rounds, and others have had even worse experiences than me, for instance the excessive guide rod wear thread. That's not going to happen to a SS guide rod.

You're right .... the stainless won't wear much at all. Did you ever think that the plastic guide rod was meant to be sacrificial ? If your guide rod and others are getting chewed up and ruined after 600 rounds, did you ever think that there might be SOMETHING ELSE WRONG ?

Sure ... you've eliminated the 'symptom' with your particular gun ... but that could easily be transferring stress to different, far more important parts of the gun that the guide rod interracts with. Kinda like taking pain killers to numb the pain, but the problem is ... now you don't know when you're REALLY hurting yourself. If I had a gun that was eating guide rods every 600 rounds, it would damn well go back to Ruger ... because SOMETHING IS WRONG with that gun.

I'd guess that if your SSGR DOES cause an issue with your gun over time .... before you sent it back for warranty work .... you'd put the original guide rod back in ... wouldn't you ?? If the answer is yes, and if you're honest it WILL be yes .... then that pretty much says it all.

Mask the symptoms all you want, if the reason you put that in your gun was to eliminate guide rod destruction ... in my opinion .... you're eliminating that symptom in the wrong way ... the gun should go back to Ruger and be fixed so that the stock parts aren't destroyed by using the gun.

REV

 

[Marlin Mike]

Mr. Stimo thanks for all your work and effort on the guide rod project. I for one would encourage you to IGNORE all the little comments and slams by some of the members replys on this thread. It seems rather childish to me that grown adults have to post such unfounded negative statements on a potential product that they have no idea if it will work or not. Please keep up the good work and put me down for one non checkered guide rod when they are manufactured.

 

[GKC]

Im sorry you feel tat way but im sick of people accusing me of being "BIASED" and advertising when im tsting out a product, spending my time and money on ammunition to test the product and review it for the people ofthe forum so they have more aftermarket options available and people keep saying im "advertising." Sorry but i don't have any stake in Guiderod.com, i thought i made that clear when i posted that i was testing for Steve Bedair, one of the biggest guide rod manufacturers out there and i figured that would prove i in no way benefit from this product.

I can understand you feeling "insulted"...I probably would as well, in your shoes...however, you are putting the information out for review. You will come across much better if you counter any critics with facts and reason, rather than insults. The former makes you seem professional; the latter does not.

 

[Stimo3]

Bottom line is this ... if you (and I don't mean YOU 2A ) want to spend money on totally non-functional add-ons or bling that does nothing ... go right ahead .... Me ?? I don't do that. Just don't try to imply that a different but shiny part does a damn thing differently that the stock Ruger part, because it doesn't.

Can you please explain why professionals will switch out and use them WHENEVER they're allowed then in competition? If they do nothing, why would professional shooters switch them out and use them when allowed? If they did nothing, why would there be times when they are allowed and are not allowed?

And the SS guide rod does do something the the stock one doesn't; it stays straight instead of bending so badly mine was done from peening after 600 rounds, this SS one i have ~900 and it looks in great condition.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. If you add weight to the front of a gun, any gun, you're going to be able to stay on target after the first shot better and any shot after that, and you're not going to get as much muzzle flip because you're not going to feel the recoil as much.

Go shoot 50 rounds out of a pf-9 and then shoot 50 rounds from the LC9. The super light weight from the PF9 makes you feel the recoil A LOT more. Those couple ounces the LC9 has on it helps damper the recoil a lot. I've shot both so i'm going from experience as i tested one out before i bought the LC9.

I'm going off of facts here, you're going off of "what you think," why don't you list any FACTS of how it doesn't do a "damn thing" instead of just saying it doesn't do anything?? That's your whole argument, no facts whatsoever. :roll:

 

[Stimo3]

Mr. Stimo thanks for all your work and effort on the guide rod project. I for one would encourage you to IGNORE all the little comments and slams by some of the members replys on this thread. It seems rather childish to me that grown adults have to post such unfounded negative statements on a potential product that they have no idea if it will work or not. Please keep up the good work and put me down for one non checkered guide rod when they are manufactured.

Thank you Marlin Mike, much appreciated. It takes time, effort and money to do this and i can only take so much badgering before i get a little heated and have a smug remark. I had made it very clear 2-3 times what the situation was, a repeat of "im advertising" was just ridiculous and uncalled for. If it wasn't for people like me there would be a lot less aftermarket products for guns, so i appreciate your appreciation of what i'm doing, thanks again.

 

[Stimo3]

Im sorry you feel tat way but im sick of people accusing me of being "BIASED" and advertising when im tsting out a product, spending my time and money on ammunition to test the product and review it for the people ofthe forum so they have more aftermarket options available and people keep saying im "advertising." Sorry but i don't have any stake in Guiderod.com, i thought i made that clear when i posted that i was testing for Steve Bedair, one of the biggest guide rod manufacturers out there and i figured that would prove i in no way benefit from this product.

I can understand you feeling "insulted"...I probably would as well, in your shoes...however, you are putting the information out for review. You will come across much better if you counter any critics with facts and reason, rather than insults. The former makes you seem professional; the latter does not.

Understandable, but again, i can only take so much before i'll respond back with a rude comment. I made it clear 2-3 times what the situation was and this guy comes in and try's to call the mods out for "advertising" a part im testing, and say it's not "gun related." To me that's uncalled for and completely rude, so i responded with the same respect i was given. It may not look professional, but i'm not a professional, i'm just testing and reviewing a product. All my reviews and discussions that have to do with that are completely professional, but when i have rude people coming in and trying to ruin a review with either just comments putting the product down with NO factual information whatsoever, and i have another guy calling out the mods on me for doing a review, i'm only human and can only be polite for so long when i've covered a subject thoroughly and someone comes in and makes a rude comment after just clearing the situation up for the 2-3 time.

 

[Stimo3]

I know my guide rod was worn out after 600 rounds, and others have had even worse experiences than me, for instance the excessive guide rod wear thread. That's not going to happen to a SS guide rod.

You're right .... the stainless won't wear much at all. Did you ever think that the plastic guide rod was meant to be sacrificial ? If your guide rod and others are getting chewed up and ruined after 600 rounds, did you ever think that there might be SOMETHING ELSE WRONG ?

Sure ... you've eliminated the 'symptom' with your particular gun ... but that could easily be transferring stress to different, far more important parts of the gun that the guide rod interracts with. Kinda like taking pain killers to numb the pain, but the problem is ... now you don't know when you're REALLY hurting yourself. If I had a gun that was eating guide rods every 600 rounds, it would damn well go back to Ruger ... because SOMETHING IS WRONG with that gun.

I'd guess that if your SSGR DOES cause an issue with your gun over time .... before you sent it back for warranty work .... you'd put the original guide rod back in ... wouldn't you ?? If the answer is yes, and if you're honest it WILL be yes .... then that pretty much says it all.

Mask the symptoms all you want, if the reason you put that in your gun was to eliminate guide rod destruction ... in my opinion .... you're eliminating that symptom in the wrong way ... the gun should go back to Ruger and be fixed so that the stock parts aren't destroyed by using the gun.

REV

The rod was bending really bad and it had noticeable indentation from hitting the barrel. The inner spring, being so tight, i dont think was functioning and was getting caught in that indent, causing it to not function to it's full potential. I shoot a lot, and if i need a new plastic guide rod, which i dont like in the first place because they flex, can break, etc. every ~1k rounds, i'd rather install a SS one that works better.

As for it putting more stress on other parts, im sure it does a bit since it's more stiff and doesnt bend, but i've been watching very closely and taking pictures of where the guide rod makes contact and where the stress points are and have been monitoring them, which is one of the major points in testing it; to make sure it functions correctly and doesnt over stress the guide rod hole and rub on the slide so it eventually rubs it oval, or if the guide rod has any unnecessary scratches on it anywhere, etc. In all guns they functioned completely fine, just the others didnt have their barrel polished so they have some bluing on the guide rod where it hits the barrel.

If i ever had a problem with my gun i'd either fix it or buy another one, it's $350, i spend more on ammunition in a month. Not to mention if ANYTHING, the only part that would ever need to be replaced is the slide as that's the only part that it makes a bit of contact and that metal isnt as hard as the barrel so eventually it'll wear it down IF it was rubbing. However i will admit that if it ruined my gun to that point, i'd fix it/buy another and stick with the plastic one obviously. I'm not a shady person i wouldn't think of doing something like that. Not to mention ruger already has me on file for a SS guide rod installed because when i snt them questions about it i put in the serial# to my gun so they knew i was a buyer, and what gun i had. So they already know. But it's not rubbing so i don't have to worry about that.

I'm being completely honest, and NO, i wouldnt lie like you obviously would and put the stock rod back in, i can afford a couple hundred dollars or i wouldnt be doing a test & review. Not to mention again, they already have my serial # and know i've been testing a SS rod. Sorry but im obviously nothing like you, as you obviously would since you're saying that in that way.

All you've done so far is come in here and criticize basically everything, say the product/SS guide rods, switching from a plastic one, does nothing which is completely untrue and you don't have any facts to back up wht you have said. I've given plenty of facts to prove what i've said is true, if a SS guide rod does nothing for a gun, then WHY DO PROFESSIONALS USE IT WHEN THEY CAN? Just answer that one question since you've avoided it every time i've posted it. If you're going to say "these products are a scam," come up with some hard facts, because so far all i've heard is your opinion and that doesnt hold much weight, especially with your argument in this situation.

 

[Specs]

I have a minor observation here. I advocate using only stock OEM parts for everything I own, but especially firearms. Call me a purist, but I think that if there is a solid reason for an upgrade "mod" to be done it should come from the original manufacturer. I extend this philosophy to grips, mags, sights, etc. If it is available from the OEM then I may use it, even if I buy it from a third party.

Case in point: I wanted the Hogue wraparound finger grip for my P89. I spent a few $$ extra to buy it from Ruger because it carried the Ruger logo. I added a Limbsaver recoil pad to my REM. 870, but it is marked R3 Remington.

 

[Deepwoods]

Please read exactly what I wrote:

Now please see that I asked the moderator if the forum was open to anyone that cared to advertise, as long as the topic was firearm focused (meaning that I realize that the guide rod is firearm related and was asking if it was OK to advocate a particular accessory/part for a firearm, and then take orders for the purchase of that accessory. NO where did I imply that a guide rod was not related to firearms (let's say like shoes for instance). I do hope your "Impartial Testing" is more accurate than you understanding of the english language (insult now intended as a return of your insults ( I figure if you want to play like a couple of school kids I will accommodate you), or we could act like a couple of adults and let it pass as is. Your choice?